About

January 27th, 2009 Leave a comment Go to comments

My name is Jordy. I am a professional cabinet maker with thirty years experience. I have lived in the sunny Sarasota Florida area for most of my lifetime. My first job, in a cabinet manufacturing facility, was for a company that had over one hundred employees. The mainstay of the company was production work for condominiums that were being built mostly near the waters edge. At that time, there were massive amounts of revenue that were being generated from the construction boom which was happening in the Longboat Key area. We just happened to fabricate custom cabinetry for a company know as Arvida. To give you an idea of their size, eventually they merged with the Walt Disney Corporation. It was during the next six years that I learned from some of the very best craftsmen in our area. Just to name a few of the tasks, I learned how to work with plastic laminate (Formica), cut cabinetry parts on a sliding table saw, layout angled kitchens & bathrooms, work with the 32 millimeter system and also the proper way to make cabinet areas functional. My main position eventually became mill man. I was responsible for cutting all of the final cabinet parts that three assemblers would then put together. Sometimes we had to meet a demanding schedule that required over 140 boxes a day to be sent down the conveyor line.

When I left the company, I went to work for a smaller manufacture. It was here that I eventually mastered the business well enough to launch out on my own. Mom always said that I would never get anywhere in life working for someone else. Little did I know that for the first few years there would be many long nights and weekends that I would have to work to keep the business afloat. For the next seventeen years I owned that business until I decided to make a change.

It was during the eight year, of being self-employed in the cabinet industry that I decided to scale things down. I then begin to focus on repairs and alterations to existing cabinets. This landed me several accounts with insurance contractors who would hire me to fix water or fire damaged cabinetry. I also got my foot in the door of the Sarasota Doctors Hospital. For several years following, I repaired and altered many cabinets and nurses work stations throughout the hospital. Here is a list of some of the changes that I have made to existing cabinet areas over the past several years. These alterations occurred in kitchens, bathrooms, laundry rooms, offices and any areas where people had need of my services.

I have:

  • Cut out water damaged areas of cabinets and reconstructed them while they remained in place.
  • Altered hood cabinets to accommodate over the stove micro wave ovens.
  • Torn out water damaged toe kick plates in entire kitchens and reconstructed them while the cabinets and counters remained in place.
  • Altered counter tops, on site, to allow for larger ovens & refrigerators or sometimes added a radius to square a corner.
  • Resurfaced cabinets and counters with Formica (or, “plastic laminate”) while they remained in place.
  • Repaired drawers and doors that were not operable.

The list could go on for several pages if I were to itemize all of the alterations and repairs that I have made over the past nine years to cabinets and counter tops. Since I have had so much experience in the area of repairs to cabinetry, I thought that this would be a good niche to start a web blog about. Thus, “Fix My Cabinet” is being started today.

I hope you find the answers too many of your questions about how to fix your cabinets here.

All the best,
Jordy


  1. Norm
    June 30th, 2009 at 17:29 | #1

    Good web page! Thanks for the tips from Canada, eh? Have a good one

  2. March 7th, 2010 at 15:01 | #2

    Grass Hinges. My daughter had a couple of walls of builtin custom cabinetry installed in her house in NYC. All of them have Grass Eurostyle hinges. The problem doors are fairly large, roughly 30″ wide by 36″ high with push to open catches and two Grass hinges. One door now just pops off the hinge plate. I have examined the hinges for wear and bent parts. I compared these hinges with others to see if I was missing anything. The door is properly aligned and is not binding along the hinge side. As you swing the door open, the door simple pops off. What is your suggestion for a solution?

  3. March 7th, 2010 at 15:11 | #3

    I believe that these Grass hinges are the 3000 series, if that helps./
    Mark

  4. David R. Goller
    March 17th, 2010 at 09:27 | #4

    I would appreciate your help in locating a product called Stay-Put Contact Adhesive which is manufactured in Europe and is used to glue laminated cabinetry.

  5. admin
    March 17th, 2010 at 14:57 | #5

    I found some here. i just Googled “Stay Put Spray Adhesive” and several results came up
    https://www.shoprvparts.com/product.do?no=15535F

  6. Nick S.
    May 18th, 2010 at 13:52 | #6

    Great website! I am currently starting my cabinetry/woodworking business out here in LA and doing a ton of research on business planning for this type of industry. This is a very helpful site for 1st time cabinet business owners. Thanks for all the info!

    -Nick

  7. admin
    May 18th, 2010 at 15:34 | #7

    Thanks for the encouragement Nick. You can build a cabinet business website yourself.

  8. tracey
    August 14th, 2010 at 11:21 | #8

    I enjoyed your youtube video. I have a problem and hope you can help. I have older (1980s) cabinets. I believe they’re Poggenpohl (white painted wood doors w/ maple looking trim.) They’ve got the metal holders behind the baseboard.

    How do I replace an existing 24″ Miele oven with a 27″ model? There are 2 cabinets on both sides of the oven. I’ve measured and if I remove a smaller cabinet on the end, I’d be left with a 6″ overhang of the counter top. Can I reduce the size of the cabinet box by 6″ and get someone to make a new door – or do I need to buy a new, smaller cabinet?

    Hope I’m clear. Thanks.

  9. admin
    August 15th, 2010 at 04:22 | #9

    Tracey, Your ideas are good.

    Another option would be to build an open “display” shelf cabinet on the end for. The opening would be on the twenty four inch (24″) section and the shelves would be about five inches clear inside. It would be large enough for small nick-naks.

    Hope this helps

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